The IPL has been a resounding success by all yardsticks. So much so that there’s talk of a withdrawal syndrome among cricket fans. In most metros across India, as also in many cities across the world with large South Asian diasporas, religiously watching IPL action had become a must over the last month and a half. As the clock struck 8 p.m., it was IPL time. It was a passion that was seductively intense and one that cut across age and gender. Spread over 44 days, the tournament was full of manic moments of drama, spectacle, ecstasy and agony. At the cost of giving favourite soaps and serials a miss, entire families were converted to the heady mix of cricket and entertainment on offer. The IPL has also resulted in an unprecedented windfall for the BCCI and franchise owners. Contrary to fears, the board stands to earn Rs 350 crore from the inaugural edition, much more than its entire profit of Rs 235 crore in 2007. Even before the semi-finals were played, 99 million viewers had tuned in to watch IPL matches. Several franchise owners like Shah Rukh Khan stand to break even in year one itself. Even teams that fared badly like the Bangalore Royal Challengers are upbeat and are already in touch with English players to reap the harvest next year. Now that the tournament is over, the question that haunts the organisers, broadcasters and fans is: What now? How do you keep the brand, so consciously created and nurtured, alive till the next tournament almost a year away? How do you prevent the soaps and serials, no mean competition, from clawing back into people’s drawing rooms from where they had been so calculatedly displaced? While there is talk of two IPLs a year — something that is not feasible or desirable for various reasons — the broadcaster for the event has a few plans up its sleeve. They have recorded dressing room action in most of the matches and these tit bits and inside stories will now be rolled out for fans on prime time television. Franchise owners will be encouraged to visit their teams and conduct talent hunts for future IPL stars in coming months. For example, Shah Rukh might soon be seen in Siliguri alongside Knight Riders icons like Sourav Ganguly scouting for the next Ashok Dinda or Wriddhiman Saha. Again, there’s talk of some franchise owners speaking to Australian state sides like Victoria to organise home and away games during the IPL off-season. If such plans are successful, we might soon see Rajasthan or Punjab taking on Victoria or New South Wales in attempts to keep the brands alive. Shah Rukh’s opening of an exclusive store in Kolkata to sell Knight Riders apparel is another such attempt. If industry estimates are to be believed, Knight Riders merchandise worth more than Rs 5 crore have already been sold from the Kolkata store since its opening on May 12. Given that youngsters like Swapnil Asnodkar, Manpreet Gony and Shikhar Dhawan have outdone established stars in the inaugural edition, franchise owners are expected to ensure that in time IPL throws up its own heroes, its own superstars and its own specialists, men who will help sustain the tournament two years from now when the ECB launches its own T20 league. As the ICC can only create one window of 45 days for tournaments of this nature every year, it is only a matter of time before T20 leagues are played concurrently. And with cricket’s catchment area remaining the same, stars will soon be precious commodities in an ambience of free market competition. However, amidst the frames of spectacular success lay hidden some unsolved issues, which franchise owners will do well to sort out before the next edition of the IPL. The failure of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, for example, was as much a result of on-field disasters as it was the product of poor resource management off it. Having spent millions on the team, nothing less than a semi-final showing was expected to satisfy celebrity owners, whose own prestige somehow got intertwined with the fortunes of their teams. However, unlike in Bollywood, where actors act to a given script, narrate a set of written dialogues and perform to a predestined ending, in cricket things often turn out quite differently. Even the best of players have off days because it is pure sport, an uncontaminated spectacle untainted by elements of certainty. However much owners want their teams to win, there can only be one winner on a given day. And it is this element of uncertainty that celebrity owners need to come to terms with. Finally, if asked to pick one distinguishing feature of the tournament that helps it to stand out, it has been its ability to rejuvenate world cricket at large. Interestingly, the IPL has not taken away from the charm of conventional Test cricket. The first match at Sabina Park in the ongoing series between Australia and West Indies was testimony to the appeal of Tests. The IPL will only help enhance cricket’s constituency and draw more people to the game without necessarily denting the clientele for the traditional form of cricket. While games against second-rate teams like Bangladesh might not draw much of an audience, a grinding Tendulkar century against the touring Australians in October will surely have takers among some of those who watched the IPL avidly. The writer is a sports historian.